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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Celestun

Celestun is a small fishing village on the far west-coast of the state of Yucatan. We actually made two trips there this week. I preferred making only one but was "asked" to make a second. We enjoyed both however and look forward to going back hopefully with friends very soon.

The following are pictures of our first trip earlier last week.

La Palapa is the best restaurant to eat at in Celestun. Good prices and flavorful food and drinks.

While eating there we spotted a dolphin swimming about 100 yards off the beach near where the boys were swimming. It was neet to watch it swim by.

Sorry. I had to take the following two pictures just to show you how odd things can be sometimes down here. Just in case you don't understand proper beach "hygiene".....the local government posts signs for people to remind them to seek out a public restroom....i.e. go in the water about 20 feet out (wink wink).

On the way back to Merida we stopped in a small village and took photos of a lady making hand-made homocks (sp?). I asked her what her name was but she was too shy to tell me.

We also passed a small housing development not too far from there where we saw many newly built homes. These homes are probably only about 400 square feet....and that may be stretching it a bit on the size. The cost.....around 150,000 Pesos. That's about $12,500 USD. They built a park next door with a good track to run on, a soccer field (I love this country), and work out equipment built to withstand the weather and accessible to all. Interesting. Very peaceful low-income Yucatecan neighborhood.

That was our first trip to Celestun. We got there late in the day so we didn't get to go on a Flamingo boat tour. They recommend that you go before 2PM in the afternoon when the birds are much more settled in their natural habitats due to calmer winds and less waves on the water.

This was our second trip. My mother-in-law Merrillee was determined to not miss the Flamingos and I am very glad we didn't. Apologies in advance for the lack of resolution on some photos. The batteries were going dead in my camera and I forgot to bring backups. I couldn't zoom in on anything I was taking pictures of so we had to settle for second best here. I did get a picture of a small crocodile however.

The Flamingo tour is either one or two hours long. The two hour ride is $40 USD more and takes you to the Campeche side of the water inlet. The bridge into Celestun is near the state dividing line between Campeche
and Yucatan. THe best part of the tour is on the Yucatan side of the water inlet where all of the features of the tour are. If you ever come down for a visit stick with the one hour ride. It's cheaper and a better quality tour.

The boys loved the boat ride even though we were getting pelted with rain the first 30 minutes or so....my wife and Merrillee....not so much. You can tell Joseph was having a blast. He didn't care how much the rain pelted him in the face.

Before we were assigned a boat I prayed and asked the Lord to determine who our boat captain was going to be for the day. His name....Jesus....literally. I didn't get his picture unfortunately. He also had this sticker in his boat... Mi pais: Mexico. Mi salvador: Jesus. Translation: My country: Mexico. My savior: Jesus.

Coincidence? No way.

Flamingos. These birds are absolutely beautiful.

Part of the tour includes a ride through a long canopy of Mangrove trees. This was were we saw the baby crocodile.

You can barely see his head. Right in the middle of the picture is a crocodile head about 9 inches long with two white eyes sticking out. He has himself backed up to the foliage directly facing the boat.

Again, my batteries in my camera were going out and the zoom feature wasn't working because of it. Jesus our boat captain says that at night the crocodiles come out. Per him they grow to 2 and 3 meters (6 to 9 feet roughly.) Big enough to do damage.

Another quarter mile down the coast is a fresh water cenote that helps feed the water tributary. Their they dock your boat so you can go inland about 100 feet and go swimming in the cenote if you want. The cenote is filled with fresh water tropical fish. After seeing our crocodile, Mama Bear (My wife) decided our sons were not going swimming anywhere but on the coast. I had to agree with her.

Sorry you have to keep cranking your neck but there is not rotation feature on the blog posting page.

After we returned from our stroll around the cenote the Lord brought another boat to the dock with Merillee's name on it, albeit it was slightly mispelled. She still got a big kick out of it and took it as a photo op. The boat captain helped her climb in the boat so we could take a picture.

The boat ride back to the main dock.

Caught a photo off this bird hanging out on a fishing boat as we were about to dock. Looked like some type of sea stork of some kind.